Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Do We Really Need to Party?

Ugh.


Tomorrow is Sabrina's birthday. She will be 7 years old. Since February she has been talking about her birthday as if turning seven is the absolute highlight of her entire existence. And I suppose to a six year old, it is.


But here's the deal.


Both of my kids have June birthdays. Back in Texas, this was totally cool because we had a giant swimming pool at our disposal, and we combined Dalton and Sabrina's party into one giant fun fest and everyone was happy.





There were tons of kids, ton of friends, tons of cake. You could not ask for a better party.










But guys. Here, well, here, we do not have a pool. We have lots of grass and a fairly big house, but I am not really one of those parents that can corral a bunch of kids into playing lots of good wholesome party games. I have friends that are complete naturals at this, and actually seem to get a kick out of this particular type of chaos. I am not one of those people. And now these kids are at the "Drop-off" age for birthday parties, and ya know, I just don't think there are enough margaritas in the world to get me through two hours of screaming seven year old girls. As much as I love my daughter, I just can't do it.


And good luck finding a pinata up here anyway.


So.


In April I started casually tossing birthday party ideas to Sabrina. How about the Art Museum? Yawn. Bowling Alley party? Nah. American Girl store? Nope. Build-a-Bear? Uh-uh.


Then she tells me that she has the perfect idea:



This to me is a whole new level of torture. Bad pizza. Disgusting germs covering all of those games. Just the thought of the noise level alone is enough to make me want to hide in my car and chain smoke.


Two weeks ago she changed her mind and decided that she didn't want the Rat from Hell to sing her "Happy Birthday" after all. (Whew!)


And now we are back to square one.


How badly will do you think she be traumatized if we just skip the whole party thing this year? Should I double-up my future therapy fund contributions?

3 comments:

lizzsmith said...

Two to three girls is really not that bad. I learned that smaller groups are much easier. Don't you remember the days when our babies would play with the box more than the toy? Maybe that concept would work in your favor? Good Luck to you though.

Barb Matijevich said...

Um, she'll bringing this up and making you feel guilty for the next, oh, at least ten years. But I feel your pain.

Just Jules said...

I am with you on this. Last year I ended up calling McD's and scheduling a party there 2 days before the one I was to have at the house. Because... I am a bad mom and it was about 40 dollars and no mess in my house....

I did do a post that might help you with this - I planned my girlies 8th birthday (and shopped for it - hello dollar store) in two days. It went smashingly

http://itisjustjules.blogspot.com/2009/03/butterflies-and-flowers.html

btw - do do do nnoooottt make it for more then two hours long - get them in and out! good to go!